Game Administration 237 



If the proper function of a State game department is to act as a leader and 

 teacher of game management, we are confronted at once with the basic problem 

 of whether the State game departments are organized in a way that attracts com- 

 petent leaders and teachers, and which enables them to work effectively. Good 

 organization alone will not produce such men, but good organization is necessary 

 in order that the State may successfully compete for their services, and in order 

 to enhance their output after such services are obtained. 



Organization of Conservation Departments. No two States of the 

 north central region are exactly alike in the organization of their conservation 

 work, but each of them falls into one of four types of organization. 



For brevity in discussion it will be necessary to coin names for these fcur 

 types. 



First, there is the original "State game and fish warden" type that once pre- 

 vailed in nearly all States, and which constitutes the "ancestral form" from which 

 later and more specialized forms have evolved. It has the merit of great sim- 

 plicity. The governor simply appoints a State game and fish warden (often 

 called game and fish "commissioner") as the executive officer in charge of game 

 and fish work. This executive sets up an office staff and a field organization. 

 There is no special provision for co-ordination with the State's other conserva- 

 tion activities; if any regulatory powers are granted they are usually exercised 

 through the governor; there is no provision for continuity of policy. The usual 

 outcome is that the v/arden, and sometimes also the field and office organization, 

 change with each change in State administration. 



Some able work has been done under this form of organization, but this 

 occurred perhaps in spite of, rather than because of, the merits of the form as 

 such. Its fundamental defect is its inherent instability. Able men are seldom 

 attracted to an organization which may suffer a complete turn-over every two or 

 four years. 



This first type of organization prevails in Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. 

 The organization diagram for Missouri illustrates the type. 



A second type of organization may be called the "department of agriculture" 

 type. In this type, conservation activities form one branch of the State department 

 of agriculture. In the north central region this type occurs only in Ohio. 



There is, of course, a fundamental and powerful logic in affiliating game with 

 agriculture. In practice, however, the actual game programs under type 2 have 

 not differed materially from those undertaken where no such affiliation exists. 

 The affiliation has created no disposition, for instance, to come to grips with the 

 land issue; that is, to encourage landowners to regard game as a crop. The 

 degree of co-ordination between game and other conservation activities is not as 

 great as the name would suggest. Thus in Ohio the State forester is not in the 

 department but rather on its conservation council, which has only an advisory 

 function. He is attached to the Agricultural Experiment Station, which works 



